Hacked: The Odyssey of Young Adventurers

Tale 17: Frador's Keep Taken: Military Lockdown

24

APR/13

Events of Episode 17
News spreads throughout the Keep that Lord Reyifor has taken ill and Prefect Ganitek has invoked emergency powers to rule Frandor’s Keep and the surrounding areas until Lord Reyifor recovers. The Adventurers of Light decided that this could not stand and formulated a plan to sneak into the Keep’s inner sanctum to liberate Lord Reyifor and deal with Prefect Ganitek once and for all.

Just as you were getting ready to execute your plan at dusk, several Wolf Guards entered the Prancing Pegasus with an unsigned writ purporting to be from Prefect Ganitek calling for your arrest. You decided not to accept this invitation and got into a scuffle with the Wolf Guards. Erymos used his magic to terrify many of the guards into running away. He also used his spell Heat-Seeking Fist of Thunder, scattering the rest. During the scuffle, Hoofcrest went missing, perhaps escaping, or perhaps captured.

You decided to lay low in the home of Balipar the artist. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that you decided to kidnap Balipar and hold him captive, suspecting that he was in cahoots with the Prefect. It would also be accurate to say that Fallen Snow beat Balipar repeatedly to get him to talk. Sometimes she seemed to be just hit Balipar out of frustration with his sarcastic comments and insults. But after ten minutes with you, he was battered, bruised, tied up and asking for food and water.

When you searched his house, you found two interesting things. First, hidden from sight, you found a half-finished portrait of Prefect Ganitek, decked out in kingly robes! Second, you found a black box, with runes on it. Inside, there was a set of paints that Balipar bought from a “wandering old crone, a woman with witch-sight” who claimed that the paint could be used to make a gate or magical portal of some sort.
__A full moon is rising and, despite the fact that it’s May, the there’s an ungodly winter storm sweeping over the Keep….

Rumors & Events
1. Lord Reyifor has taken ill with a wasting sickness & Prefect Ganitek has taken on emergency powers until the Lord is able to resume his duties.

2. Prefect Ganitek has publicly announced that rumors of an invading army have now been confirmed. The gates of the city have been closed and locked for public safety

3. A large force of Lord Reyifor’s men have been rumored to have left the city, as part of an expeditionary force to meet the enemy in the mountains. In their absence, Prefect Ganitek’s newly instituted “Wolf Guard” have been keeping peace in the locked down Frandor’s Keep.

4. Rumor has it that the regionally famous painter Balipar has been commissioned to paint a portrait of Ganitek and his chief guards

5. Ganitek has issued an ordinance forbidding the wearing of armor and weapons in the keep, other than by the Wolf Guards. This is a temporary measure to avoid any accidental injury and will be lifted when enemy forces reach Frandor’s Keep.

6. Rumor has it that contraband goods are being smuggled into the Keep through underground passages

7. Several dark-hooded, unsavory characters have been spreading money around town looking for a piece of stolen jewelry